BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

and

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. It broadcasts on FM,

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

, digital TV and via

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tabl ...

from studios at St Nicholas Place in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. According to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was call ...

, the station had a weekly audience of 129,000 listeners and a 5.1% share as of September 2022.

History

BBC Radio Leicester was the first of the new wave of BBC Local Radio stations introduced in the 1960s. Radio Leicester began broadcasting at 12:45 on 8 November 1967 on 95.05 VHF from a transmitter located on Gorse Hill above the city centre. The station's former 837 kHz

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the dayti ...

frequency from the Freeman's Common transmitter near the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_lab ...

is now used by the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

, which originated in Leicester but is now a national network delivered via

digital satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

and other systems across the UK and beyond. In 2007, the station celebrated its 40th anniversary by launching a Ruby Rainbow Appeal in aid of the Rainbows Hospice based in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...

, within its TSA (total survey area). Special events took place throughout the year culminating in a final fundraising appeal around the time of the anniversary in November 2007.

Studios

In 2005, the station moved to new premises at 9 St Nicholas Place. This new centre is adjacent to the medieval

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in some ...

and

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

and includes many aspects of Leicester's history, such as Victorian tiles and an undercroft (first revealed in 1841), with remains dating to

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times. The Centre houses the

BBC College of Journalism The BBC Academy is an educational arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation which trains current and prospective broadcasting employees in the skills of the Broadcasting industry, in addition to training the corporation's own staff and prospect ...

's base for the Midlands, an IT Centre that is used in partnership with local organisations, and a BBC Shop selling a wide range of BBC-branded merchandise.

Transmitters

Although the station's FM transmitter mast is only 70 m (230 ft) tall, it is set 235 m (770 ft) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

on top of the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

ridge at

Copt Oak Copt Oak is a place in Leicestershire in England. It is in the North West Leicestershire district, near Bawdon Lodge, Charley and Ulverscroft. In its name, ''cop'' is an old English word for ''head'', i.e. " eeaded oak" = "pollarded oak". ...

, next to the M1. This is a high point in

Charnwood Forest Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; ...

, part of the National Forest. Since 6 December 2002, the station's

signal has come from the NOW Digital East Midlands (NDEM)

11B multiplex, which comes from Copt Oak and Houghton on the Hill. The Waltham transmitter and Houghton-on-the-Hill have a

Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It conta ...

multiplex and Waltham has a

BBC National DAB BBC National DAB is a digital audio broadcasting multiplex in the UK, for a number of radio stations which have UK wide coverage. The multiplex is owned and operated by the BBC and is transmitted from a number of transmitter sites across the c ...

multiplex. The Copt Oak transmitter also broadcasts

Gem 106 Gem is an Independent Local Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 318,000 liste ...

. In addition, BBC Radio Leicester also broadcasts on

TV channel 721 in the

BBC East Midlands BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland, southern parts of South Kes ...

region and streams online via

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Leicester studios from 6am – 10pm on Sundays – Fridays and from 6am – 6pm and 8-10pm on Saturdays. Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10pm – 1am, originates from

BBC Radio WM BBC Radio WM is the BBC's local radio station serving the West Midlands. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Mailbox in Birmingham. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 236,000 lis ...

(Monday – Thursday) and

BBC Radio Nottingham BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road in Nottingham city centre. According to RAJAR, the station has ...

(Friday – Sunday). During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Leicester simulcasts overnight programming from

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

and

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

References

External links

BBC Radio Leicester

The history of Radio Leicester

Copt Oak transmitter (including coverage map)

Houghton-on-the-Hill transmitter (digital)

Audio clips

Suspect dedication in 2006
{{Coord, 52.635, -1.138, region:GB, display=title Radio stations established in 1967

Radio stations in Leicestershire